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Monthly Archives: May 2013

Arbor Day Foundation members and supporters interested in learning more about this year’s award winners are invited to view the short video segments we put together for the 14 individual, organizations and companies recognized in Nebraska City on April 26.

Kemba Skakur, executive director the Oakland, California, based non-profit Urban ReLeaf, received the highest honor among this highly-accomplished group of tree planters and conservationists. Shakur and her staff wrote this blog post upon returning home to California. Her one complaint, which she noted at the time, was that the video segment covered much of the ground she had planned to address in her remarks. But she inspired the audience just the same.

Accepting the Promise to the Earth award on behalf of UPS, Jerald Barnes said he and his colleagues have been dubbed “the tree guys” at the office as a result of their relationship with the Foundation and our staff. The video notes UPS’ partnerships with some the largest environmental groups in the world, including the company’s recent donation to the Flight 93 Memorial Project, a twenty-two hundred acre national park in Pennsylvania commemorating those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.

Each winner offers inspiration of its own kind – Dr. Burney Fischer for his leadership and vision in developing urban forestry programs in Indiana, Donna Love for working with the Department of Defense to support sixty Nature Explore classrooms on military bases throughout the country and the non-profit Plant With Purpose’s pioneering work to bring clean stoves — designed to conserve energy and wood, while reducing harmful fumes —to some of the poorest regions in the world.

If you have a chance, you might also visit our revamped programs page. Some found the previous version a little overwhelming, so we hope this iteration provides a bit more clarity and direction. We only have award winners in April, but the work with do with our partners and sponsors through these programs has an impact throughout the year.

That, in the end, is what the Foundation is about – bringing the tree-planting spirit of Arbor Day to every other day of the year. And we couldn’t do it without the work the daily efforts of this year’s winners and countless others.